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Monday, September 24, 2007

Battling the Dark Side of the Internet (Part 2)

“Use the force,” Obi Wan told Luke Skywalker. And when he did, he blew up the Death Star. In our battle against viruses, worms, malicious code and the like, the “force” at our disposal includes having an updated virus protection program on our computers, being mindful of and avoiding falling into the trap of a “phishing” scheme (I talked about each of these in Part 1 of this series – CLICK HERE TO READ) and in this post I want to continue to discuss ways you can protect yourself against the dark side of the internet. In particular, the focus is spyware and adware. Has your computer been running at a snail’s pace? I mean, you used to be able to boot up and get on the internet in what seemed like lightning speed, but now – “I might as well go back to dial up.” (Well, maybe not quite that drastic.) The truth of the matter is your computer may be loaded down with spyware or adware (or both!) and that’s why it’s running so slow. Spyware, according to the Symantec website, is an information gathering software that attaches itself to your computer without your consent or knowledge. Spyware’s main objective is to monitor your actions, the websites you visit, the programs you use, and it tracks these for its own selfish purposes. Adware is similar to spyware. The difference is adware displays advertising on your computer. Yep. That ad that just keeps popping up every time you open Internet Explorer (and it’s just driving you crazy), it’s adware. There are dangers with spyware and adware beyond their just slowing your computer down. But I don't want you to have to read a book when you need to be out selling property. Ultimately, there are a host of free spyware and adware programs that can help you clean up your computer and make it go faster. But before I give you links to two of them, let me just offer you one more warning. You know all those freeware and shareware programs out there? Be careful downloading them. Many are armed with spyware and/or adware. And get this - there are even various spyware and adware programs that are actually fronts set up to infect your computer with spyware and adware! The following two free downloads have proven to be safe and reliable to rid your computer of spyware and adware (both are the most up-to-date versions): SpyBot and Ad-Aware. Bottom line (can you guess?): May the force be with you. (Watch for “Battling the Dark Side of the Internet – Part 3” to come soon.)